“And now back to K104.5 FM’s broadcast of the 3A high school football championship with Peter O’Conner and Michael Jardine.

“Welcome to the 2050 edition of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s 3A Football Championship! Today we have a treat for football fans; the juggernaut of Louisiana high school sports, John Curtis Christian Patriots with their 23 state championships will face off against the upstart Vanderbilt Catholic Terriers who are looking for their fifth championship,” Peter O’Conner said as the broadcast came back on the air.

“John Curtis has always had amazing teams, but tonight they will have their hands full with the freak of an athlete wearing blue and gold at receiver,” Jardine responded.

“You’re right. Ron DeRossi and Caesar Jenkins make for a deadly combination that would have any team struggling to find a way to even slow them down. Usually I would go with the Patriots in any matchup against another Louisiana school, but with a 6’4”, 192 pound sophomore playing receiver for the other team, it’s tough to bet against that.”

“That kid is beyond amazing and will probably finish out his high school career as one of the best players to ever suit it up in this state, and this game is going to be his coming out party,” jardine said.

“Why did we have to come to this?” Devin asked as he took his seat next to Laura in one of the higher sections of the SuperDome.

“Because! You and my dad need to do more things together like you used to do when we first started dating,” Laura shot back. “You both like football, you both love me and I love both of you; so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

Devin looked at her out of the corner of his eye before returning his gaze to the field, “I didn’t really want to come to THIS game though. We could have gone to one of the other championship games, but your dad picked THIS one.”

“What’s wrong with this one?” Laura asked. “It was the only one that had a school from the Tri-Parish in it.”

“Exactly, it’s the one with the school from Houma in it. You sure you aren’t here just to see him?” Devin asked pointing towards Caesar who was on the sideline laughing with some of the other players before the game.

[hr]
“So, this is what it’s like to be on the field of this relic?” Caesar laughed as Ron leaned against the trainer’s table. “If it was up to me, I would have condemned this piece of s*** years ago and built a new stadium.”

“It’s easy to say that when you aren’t the Bensons. After their one amazing season, the Saints fell off hard. That coupled with Tulane moving out of here when they blew up and built their own stadium just continues to sink them,” Ron explained. “Besides this is the big draw in New Orleans when Tulane isn’t playing these days, where else would they put it?”

“Uh, Tulane Stadium?” Caesar asked sarcastically.

“Good point,” Ron chuckled. “I like being here.”

Caesar sat down on the bench behind him, bending down to tighten his cleats, “Only because you got to sit in this same spot and watched as the real athletes won State two years ago. Now, I have to go out there and show these bitches who is the best football player in this state.”

“Curtis is good,” Ron said simply.

“I’m better.”

[hr]
John and another kid sat outside of Vanderbilt’s stadium blocked from view from the street by the tall scoreboard.

“Shouldn’t you be at the game?” the kid asked John.

“I quit the football team, aren’t you a band member? I thought they all had to go to New Orleans too?” John asked.

“Well Aaron, if your parents don’t forbid you from going outside… win or lose tonight, they will come back tomorrow and want to have a party. At which time, Caesar will get ridiculously drunk as usual and then…” John trailed off looking towards the school.

Aaron pushed him trying to get his attention again, “Then what?!”

“You want Ashley Kennedy to like you don’t you?” John asked putting his arm around Aaron’s shoulder and starting to walk towards the school. “There is no way in hell that that can happen if Caesar Jenkins is still around.”

“Ashley won’t talk to me under any circumstances. What can you possibly do that would change her mind?” Aaron asked pushing John’s arm away.

John shook his head, “Ashley is my cousin. You know family has a lot of pull when it comes to things like this and I know she doesn’t want to become just another one of Jenkins’ sluts. That being said, all I have to do is talk to her and convince her that you are the better choice.”

“And that will work?”

“Yeah, it will work.”

[hr]
“Caesar Jenkins had been held to only one catch in the first half as the Patriots have pretty much been triple teaming him. However, that catch that he just made was one of the best catches I’ve ever seen in my broadcasting career,” O’Conner boomed over the radio.

“Yes, yes, yes! Jenkins got up with one hand and pulled down the ball even though he was already falling towards the ground after an early hit from John Curtis safety Zach Van Der Peat. A catch like that can definitely ignite the Terriers and bring them back from this 14-0 deficit here in the third quarter,” Jardine added in.

[hr]
“That Jenkins kid is good,” Laura’s dad said to Devin who had his eyes closed not bothering to watch the game. “You did alright against him, but there was no way in hell that you had any chance of shutting him down, three guys can’t even do that.”

Devin only nodded his head.

“You don’t have to agree with me, I watched the game. He is only what? Sixteen? Look at him, he is already playing better than some of the kids on the college level,” he continued. “Hopefully, you guys get some better safeties next year or it won’t be anything pretty.”

“Dad stop it,” Laura said angrily.

“I’m just talking to the boy.”

[hr]
“So, this is what we are going to do,” John started as he kneeled down just outside of the school’s parking lot. “When Mr. All-Star gets distracted in some way or another, I will steal his car and come and get you. We will then come here and enact the rest of our plan.”

“I don’t know…”

“Do you want to be with Ashley or not? Besides he f***ed up your car!” John shouted smacking some of the gravel in front of him.

“Okay, okay. I’ll do it, but you better be sure that we won’t get caught,” Aaron mumbled.

“We won’t.”

[hr]
“Fourth quarter here in the SuperDome. The score is tied up at 14 and it looks like we’ll be heading into overtime. Neither John Curtis nor Vanderbilt has been able to find their stride here. You would think that they would be able to get one of those many playmakers on the field going,” O’Conner said.

“Yes, there are playmakers on both team but that is the problem there are playmakers everywhere on both teams and they are struggling to move the ball against each other. It’s going to take something big for the Terriers to even mov…”

“OH MY GOD! CAESAR JENKINS JUST MADE AN AMAZING CUT TO GET OPEN AND CATCH THE BALL! HE’S AT THE 50, THE 40. IT’S A FOOT RACE BETWEEN HIM AND JOHN CURTIS’ FASTEST PLAYER, KEYON MARSHALL! MARSHALL IS CATCHING UP, HE HAS THE ANGLE ON HIM!”

“WHAT A MOVE BY JENKINS!! HE THREW IT INTO REVERSE AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME AND MARSHALL WAS SENT FLYING TO THE GROUND IN AN ATTEMPT TO PULL HIM DOWN!”

“VANDERBILT WILL WIN! VANDERBILT WILL WIN!”

[hr]
“Here I am, bitches!” Caesar shouted as he walked into a packed house the next day. He lifted up his collared shirt to reveal the 3A State Champions shirt that he was wearing underneath. “I’m so happy that you wonderful people decided to have a party today, or I would have been deathly bored sleeping with my MVP trophy.”

“Cocky, are we?” Ron said as he walked into the house behind Caesar.

Caesar laughed and put his arm around Ron’s shoulder, “I earned it, man. I earned it, this time. You saw that move I put down on that kid? I thought he had me for sure.”

“You would have put us in field goal position, we would have won either way,” Ron shrugged. “Now, I’m going find something to drink. Try not to get yourself into a fight this soon after we’ve walked into the door, yeah?”

Ron walked away and his spot next to Caesar was filled by Ashley who wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to New Orleans,” Ashley said looking up at him. “I heard you played really good out there, though.”

“It’s okay that you couldn’t find a way there,” Caesar smiled knowing that with his new ‘girlfriend’ in Houma, he had free reign for a night. “And yes, I did but when do I not play good? I’m like God on the field.”

As they started to make their way through the crowd of people dancing and drinking in the middle of the house, someone pushed Ashley’s arms away from Caesar who turned to be face-to-face with Stacy standing on the opposite side of him.

“You are still talking to this slut?!” Stacy shouted over the music. “You weren’t saying anything about her a few nights ago, were you Caesar?”

“What the f*** are you talking about, girl? Are you f***ing drunk already?” Caesar asked pushing Stacy away from him.

Ashley walked around Caesar and got in between him and Stacy, “Yeah, what is she talking about Caesar? I’d really like to know. I thought you said you weren’t messing with anyone else anymore?”

“I’m not,” Caesar said bluntly.

“Yes, he is. He probably licked my p**** and then kissed you right after!” Stacy shouted.

“F*** you, I’m not talking to you,” Ashley spun around and said angrily pushing Stacy making her stumble to the floor. “How about you go find someone’s d*** to suck, tramp.”

“What’d you say bitch?” Stacy asked getting up from the floor and getting in Ashley’s face. “I ought to stomp a hole in you right now.”

“Go ahead, bitch. F***ing try me,” Ashley said pushing Stacy again.

Before another word could come from Stacy, Ashley had already punched her in her mouth and sent her to the floor. Seconds later, Ashley jumped on top of her and grabbed a handful of hair with her left hand swinging frantically with her right.

Caesar took a step forward to break them up, but had to step back as Ashley’s hand almost hit him. Instead, he waited for Ashley’s hand to swing back again and pulled her away from Stacy when he finally was able to grab hold of her arm.

“STOP IT!” Caesar yelled practically dragging Ashley to her feet. She tried to run back to Stacy, but Caesar’s grip on her wrist only tightened causing her arm to turn red. “Did you hear me? I said stop.”

[hr]
“Alright, time to get Caesar Jenkins out of our school and lives for good,” John said as he pulled into Vanderbilt’s parking lot driving Caesar’s car. “You are ready for this right?”

“Ye…yeah… No. Yea… Yeah,” Aaron stammered.

“One more time, Aaron. Do you want to be with Ashley or not? You want to know where she is right now, do you? With Caesar at some party, probably on her back getting f***ed by him. THAT COULD BE YOU!” John shouted as he stopped the car abruptly.

Aaron took a deep breath and then got out of the car, “Let’s do it, and don’t talk about my Ashley that way.”

John shrugged as he got out of the car as well. He walked around to the trunk and pulled out four gas cans and set them on the ground before pulling out two lighters, “Okay, you get the West Wing. I’ll get the East Wing. Make a trail all the way back to that door right there and then light it.”

“Al…alright,” Aaron nodded as he bent down and picked up two of the cans. “We’ll be out of here before it really gets going, right?”

John nodded and picked up the other two gas cans before turning and heading to his designated hall.

[hr]
“COPS! COPS! COPS!”

Caesar jumped up from the sofa he was sitting on in the back of the party and broke for the back door, but he saw an officer running outside of the house in the same direction. He turned around and bounded up the stairs.

Running into an empty room, he stopped to catch his breath before he heard police officers spilling into the downstairs rooms. He threw open a window and climbed out onto the first floor roof. He ran along until he found a truck parked next to the house and jumped down.

He started to casually walk away hoping the police were too busy inside…

“JENKINS FREEZE!”

“S***,” Caesar mumbled as he threw his hands up, turning around towards the cop. “I didn’t do anything Mr. Officer.”

“That’s where you are wrong, son,” the officer said walking up behind Caesar with his gun drawn. He forced him to his knees and pushed his arms down to handcuff him. “Supposedly you started the fire at Vanderbilt tonight.”

“What?!” Caesar shouted trying to wrestle his arms away but the cop forced him onto his face and put his knee on his neck to make sure that he couldn’t move anymore. “I didn’t do ANYTHING!”

“And I smell alcohol on your breathe. Aren’t you 16?” the officer chuckled.

“F*** you, I’m not drunk and you catch prove it bitch,” Caesar said angrily. “Get these handcuffs off me before I buy your life.”

The officer laughed as he got on his radio and called for another officer to help him drag Caesar to the awaiting cars on the opposite side of the house, “You’re under arrest for arson, kid. I don’t have to prove that you were drinking underage, you are about to be a felon.”

Moments later another police officer ran around the house and they dragged Caesar to his feet leading him around the house towards a car. As all of the other people left the house, they were actually shocked to see that Caesar was the only handcuffed.

“Have a good ride,” the first officer said as he pushed Caesar into the car.

“Welcome to your new home, superstar, Ashland Correctional Facility,” the police officer driving the car chuckled as he drove through the gate of the prison. “There was some debate over whether you were going to end up here or over at ‘Baby’ Ashland but luckily you are under arrest for something a little more serious than the detention center would accept.”

“Did I f*** your daughter or something or are you just mad that I’m richer than you’ll ever be?” Caesar asked cockily.

“You won’t be so ready to open your mouth once that door closes behind you,” the officer laughed as the car came to a stop outside of the intake area. He slowly got out of the car and walked around to open the door for Caesar, dragging him out of the car causing him to fall to the concrete floor below him.

“Bitch, isn’t that police brutality?” Caesar asked angrily rolling to his feet with the help of the officer.

Before the officer could respond the screech of tires was heard breaking the still night air, lights flooded the area and a red Ferrari slammed to a halt just inches from the police car in front of it.

“TAKE THOSE F***IN’ HANDCUFFS OFF MY SON!” Deion shouted as he jumped out of the car. “HE DIDN’T SET ANY F***IN’ SCHOOL ON FIRE!”

“Didn’t you hear me, fat boy? I said take those handcuffs off my son,” he seethed. “You found his car? Good, because someone stole it from that little party he was at.”

The officer turned and started to walk towards the door leading inside with Caesar in tow, but Deion reached out and grabbed his son’s other arm stopping the cop’s progress.

“You seem to not believe me, but I have someone who can prove that my son wasn’t anywhere around Vanderbilt tonight, especially after he got to that party,” Deion said with a smirk. “You want to hear their statement or you just want to deny my son’s rights?”

Deion turned back towards his car and waved his hand towards the passenger side as someone stepped out of the car.

“Ashley?” Caesar asked.

“Yeah, you dumbass. She is the link to your freedom,” Deion said smacking his son in the back of his head.

Growing aggravated, the officer took the chance to start walking towards the door again calling for two other officers to help him. The door opened just before he got to it and his backup appeared, one to get between Deion and his son and the other to quickly usher Caesar away.

“I’m telling you that she can prove that he wasn’t at that school,” Deion shrugged. “I guess I’m going to have to go above your heads and find someone who is in charge.”

“You do that, sir.”

“How are you today, Mr. Jenkins. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone from your family in this police station,” an older man wearing a suit at a desk chuckled as Deion walked into Houma’s police station with Ashley close behind him. “What can I do for you tonight?”

Deion sat down across from him, “You bastards arrested my son tonight for something that he couldn’t have possibly done, not to mention I don’t think he is even smart enough to pull something like what he is being accused of off. Fix it, Jackson.”

“That’s Detective Jackson to you. Let’s see here,” Jackson said looking through a file on his desk. “Ah, here it is. Caesar Jenkins under arrest for arson, public drunkenness, underage drinking, and minor in possession of alcohol. You sure he didn’t do these?”

Deion laughed, “Maybe all those drinking charges are true, but he definitely didn’t set anything on fire… except this one behind me.”

“What are you talking about Jenkins?” the detective asked looking at Ashley who was nervously rubbing the bottom of her shirt between her fingers.

“My son has an alibi. He couldn’t have been setting Vanderbilt on fire because he was balls deep in her until about three minutes before your cronies showed up,” Deion explained. “I mean, it’d be a plausible excuse for anyone but if you knew how nasty my son was when it came to that, you’d believe it, too.”

“Is this true?” Jackson asked Ashley, who only nodded her head. “Do you have something to prove this? Preferably something with his and your DNA on it, a condom maybe.”

“He didn’t use one,” Ashley mumbled. “I’m on the pill.”

“Well, there is a way that we can prove you were with him. However, the results will take a couple of days and I won’t be able to show it to the judge until Monday anyway,” Detective Jackson shrugged. “He’ll have to spend two days in jail.”

“I guess it’ll do him some good,” Deion conceded as he got up and walked out of the police station leaving Ashley behind.

[hr]
“Here’s your new home, superstar,” a corrections officer said as he shoved Caesar into a cell with two other guys already inside. “Hope you enjoy your stay here, it will be a long one.”

“I’ll be out here by the end of the night,” Caesar scoffed as the cell door was closed behind him. He turned and looked at his cellmates who occupied the bottom bunk of the each of the two beds in the cell. “You ****-thugs are going to bunk together.”

“F*** you,” they both said in unison.

[hr]

“Jenkins get your ass up,” a corrections officer said standing at the door of the cell Caesar was being held in. “Obviously, your little girlfriend and you f***ing the other night was able to prove that you didn’t set the school on fire.”

Caesar smiled devilishly at the fact that his d*** got him out of jail.

…

“Why the f*** did I have to spend a day and a half in there?!” Caesar shouted at his father as he was led into the lobby of the jail. “You could have gotten me out of there long ago.”

“No, I couldn’t have. I didn’t want to, either. Don’t worry, you won’t miss any school,” Deion said as he got into his car followed by Caesar on the passenger side.

“Why?”

“Vanderbilt damn near burned down, there isn’t much left. They said it could take years for them to tear down and rebuild it,” Deion explained.

Caesar looked into the mirror at his soiled face after two days without a shower, “So what does that mean?”

“I don’t know, we are going to the school board right now for some kind of emergency thing to decide where you spoiled brats are going to end up.”

[hr]

“I SPENT MY HARD EARNED MONE Y TO SEND HIM TO AN ACTUALLY GOOD SCHOOL AND NOW YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT HE HAS TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE BECAUSE SOME CRAZY SON OF A BITCH DECIDED TO BURN DOWN THE SCHOOL?!” a man shouted from the back of the room.

“Calm down, sir. We have no other option but to send all Vanderbilt students to another school,” Devin, III said as he sat in the middle of a room filled with angry parents and school board members.

“So, how is that going to work out?” another man asked.

“There isn’t a school in this parish that can handle another twenty-one hundred students,” a second school board member started.

“Exactly, Houma Christian and E.D. White Catholic have each agreed to take two hundred students a piece for those students who live close enough to those two schools,” a third added.

“So what does that mean for the other seventeen hundred?!” a woman on the opposite side of the room shouted.

Deion and Caesar snuck their way into the room standing towards the back with the rest of the people who were late to the meeting.

“Feels intense in here,” Deion whispered to Caesar.

“No joke,” Caesar said.

“We have no choice but to send the other students to the parish’s public schools unless they live closer to Lafourche Parish in which case they will be sent to one of the three Lafourche high schools,” Devin, III announced as the room erupted into shouts and curses.

“Everyone needs to calm down, the semester is over now and that gives everyone a few weeks to situate where they will be sending their children to school starting in January. Please remember that public schools reopen for the spring semester before many of the private schools.”

Caesar turned to his father, “How close do we live to Houma Christian?”

“Not close at all.”

“E.D. White?”

“Farther.”

“So what school are we closest to?”

[hr]
“Did you hear?” Laura asked as her and Devin walked towards their normal area before class started in the morning. “A bunch of kids from Vanderbilt are coming here starting today.”

“So, what?” Devin asked with a shrug. “Not like I’m going to be pushed out of the school because some really rich kids are coming here.”

“Yeah, but…” Laura was cut off as a brand new Corvette swerved through the bus circle barely missing her before coming to a sudden stop in one of the teachers’ parking spots.

“What… the…” Devin stammered.

The doors of the car opened…

“That’s what I call valet parking. We never had this kind of parking at Vanderbilt, man.”

“You never almost took out four people on your way into the damn spot either, you crazy bastard.”

“I’m not a bastard, Ron. I know my daddy.”

“Oh, we all know your dad,” Ron chuckled closing the passenger door. “Good thing, he got you out of jail back when those crazy f**** burned down the school or we would have been calling you Ciara instead of Caesar.”

Caesar laughed as he closed the door on his side, “Yeah, but it was actually Ashley’s sexy ass that got me out of that one.”

They stepped on the sidewalk coming face-to-face with Devin and Laura. Caesar’s gaze turned to Laura for a moment before he realized who was standing next to her. The smile on his face quickly disappeared…

“Stay out of my way, bitch,” he seethed at Devin before brushing by him.

Devin and Laura watched as Caesar and Ron laughed their way towards the guidance office.

After already running into “Public Enemy no. 1” early in the morning, Laura went to her American History class hoping that she wouldn’t have to come across anymore of Vanderbilt’s upper echelon or anyone from that school for that matter.

“Guess I’ll check attendance now, everyone is here who will be here,” the teacher said plainly as she sat at her desk.

“Did you see all those fine specimens of the opposite sex?” Julie asked turning in her desk to face Laura behind her. “I can’t exactly say that I am against this little get together that we are being forced into by the school board.”

Laura rolled her eyes, “I don’t see myself throwing my body around to get one of those rich kids to spend their daddy’s money on me.”

“Because Devin is broke, right?” Julie chuckled. “You might be throwing your body at him, but I’m not any worse trying to find myself a nice Christian boy to show me some real love.”

Everyone in the room was startled by a loud knock on the door, interrupting everyone’s conversations. The teacher quickly walked over and opened the door exchanged a few words with the person on the other side, taking a sheet of paper from them and looking it over before stepping away from the door.

“Come right in. You’re going to have to get used to the door being locked from the outside at this school. Safety precautions,” the teacher shrugged turning to walk back to her desk. “Sit wherever you find an open seat.”

“Oh my God,” Laura whispered as none other than Caesar Jenkins walked into the class.

There were only two open desks left in the class; one in the front and one in the back behind Laura… After a brief moment looking, Caesar smirked to himself and strolled to the back of the class sliding into the empty desk.

“Well, hello there. I’m new here and have been looking for a pretty face to get me through the day,” Caesar joked as he leaned closer to Laura. “You know I would have jumped to take this class if I knew you were in it, damn Terrebonne for having to replace my Bible Studies class.”

Julie spun around in her desk, batting her eyelashes at Caesar, “If you were looking for a pretty face then you are talking to the wrong one of us. I’d be more than happy to show you around and introduce you to some of the after-school activities around here, I’m sure they wouldn’t be the same as at Vanderbilt.”

“Really? That’s great,” Caesar said sarcastically before turning his attention back to Laura. “I think you should be my official welcoming committee here.”

Laura rolled her eyes, shaking her head, “I’ll have to pass on that one, but obviously Julie here is more than willing to handle that for you.”

“As much as I want to see her student body, I think yours would be so much better,” Caesar chuckled crudely. “Unless you are still hung up on that little bitch, Devin, in which case I’d have to pry you away from him.”

“You either never give up or you don’t understand English clearly. Yes, I am with Devin and will be staying with Devin. Sorry to inform you there is nothing you can do to change that,” Laura said annoyed.

“Yeah, for now,” Caesar said before leaning back in his desk so he could put his head down and catch a quick nap.

“What the hell is his problem,” Devin thought to himself going over his run-in with Caesar earlier in the morning. In his mind he had never done anything to Jenkins, and the one time they did play against each other he played amazingly dirty. That ignorant feud… that was the only answer to all of this.

“Wake up, bitch,” Tyronne said kicking Devin’s desk.

“Do you have daddy issues or something?” Devin asked without turning around. “Or is just because everyone knows you are by far the dumbest person at this school?”

“Neither, I just like f***in’ with the lamest kid in the entire school,” Tyronne shot back. “How much longer you think that hoe of yours will hold out now that there are a bunch of rich kids coming here now? I give her two weeks, then I’ll get some of that too.”

Devin shook his head, “Is it like some goal for you to have sex with her? I mean if I were you, I wouldn’t have a huge long-term goal, but you really should aim a little higher.”

“She’s an anomaly, dumbass. How many virgins are there are Terrebonne? Two? You and her. I figured I might as well cut that down to just you, and I’m sure that someone else is looking to do the same thing. By the end of the year, I’ll bet she becomes the biggest hoe on the campus,” Tyronne chuckled.

“Wha…” Devin started…

“So, I’ve been sitting here for like six minutes trying to figure out where I know you two from and I just realized it,” another student next to them said barging into their little argument.

“What the f*** are you talkin’ about, white boy?” Tyronne shot back.

“I was pretty pissed off when they told me I had to take this class because Vanderbilt doesn’t offer the same type of Biology, you know no evolution and all that, and even more pissed when I found it that it was mostly sophomores in this class,” the guy explained. “Then I realized I was sitting next to Terrebonne’s star quarterback and up-coming cornerback.”

“And where are you going with this?” Devin asked.

Tyronne nodded, “For real.”

“Meet your replacement. Name’s Ron, you’ll figure out my last name from sitting on the sideline,” Ron chuckled extending his hand to Tyronne. “As for you, Mr. King, I’m sure there is a state championship corner floating around here that will take you’re spot too.”

“Replacement? What the f*** are you talkin’ about? There is no way in hell that you could ever… EVER replace me,” Tyronne said angrily.

Ron laughed and held up his other hand showing off his two state rings, “When you get these, buddy, then you can start saying how I’m not going to replace you.”

[hr]
“So how’s your first day been, Ron?” Caesar chuckled as he sat down on a rail for a handicap ramp leading to the school.

“Inter… well, quite boring actually,” Ron answered. “It’s like I stepped into the twilight zone or something. Hopefully it picks up, because I can’t take this for long.”

Caesar shook his head as he watched more students pass by them on their way to the cafeteria for lunch, “I can’t do this thing with the entire school doing the same thing at the same time, but I have to say that I found something to keep myself entertained for the rest of the time we’ll be here.”

“What’s that? From what I’ve seen, Ashley and Stacy aren’t that entertaining to you anymore or else you would have across the little circle thing and talked to one of them,” Ron said pointing at the two girls who were standing opposite of them. “They seem quite buddy-buddy, don’t they?”

“They have something in common, they are both whores,” Caesar said plainly. “Anyway, back to my entertainment. You see those girls over there?”

Ron nodded slowly, “Yeah, isn’t that the girl from McDonald’s that you always flirt with but she never gives you the time of day?”

“Yes and she’s King’s girl,” Caesar said.

“I’m lost.”

“Just walk over here with me,” Caesar said shoving Ron and jumping down from the rail before walking towards where Laura, Stephanie, and Julie were sitting. Ron shook his head and followed his friend.

“Well, hello Caesar,” Julie sang as he sat down next to her, Ron sitting across from him. “Who’s your friend?”

“That’s my partner-in-crime, Ron,” Caesar answered. “I noticed that you ladies were lacking the male element at this table so we decided to come and fill that void for you.”

“Oh, heeeey,” Caesar said noticing that Stephanie was also at the table. “Sorry about how I ended that last summer, it was a crazy time for me.”

Laura shook her head, “That’s great, you two can leave now. I’m sure Julie and Stephanie would love to let you two f*** them later on today, but I’d rather not have your company right now.”

“Well, Laura. You might enjoy sex if you would actually try it but since you aren’t why are you trying to stop us from getting with these two fine specimens of the male gender?” Julie asked as she ran her fingers along Caesar’s arm who reached his other hand out for a fist bump from Ron.

“That’s disgusting,” Laura shot back.

“There is nothing wrong with sex, what are you a virgin?” Ron interjected leaning forward so he could see Laura around Stephanie.

“Yes, I am,” Laura said matter-of-factly.

“For now,” Caesar chuckled garnering another fist bump from Ron.

Laura rolled her eyes, “Since you know me right?”

“I just have to look at you. You’re in the latter part of your sophomore year and you are starting to wonder what it’s like to be treated like a woman by a real man,” Caesar explained. “Is wittle Devin a virgin, too?”

“What about Devin?”

The group turned to see Devin walking up and sitting down at the table next to Laura, changing the smile on Caesar’s face to a scowl.

“So, why are you two sitting here?” Devin asked pointing at Caesar and Ron. “I would think that we weren’t upscale enough for you two.”

“Yo…” Caesar started before being cut off by Ron waving his hand in his face.

“Just keeping these young ladies company, certainly you don’t take offense to that do you?” Ron asked.

‘Nope,” Devin said simply standing up grabbing Laura’s arm in the process and practically dragging her off.

[hr]
“Now, I know it’s only the first day of the semester and usually we don’t talk about football until at least the end of March but this is a different situation,” Terrebonne’s Coach Martin said standing next to Vanderbilt’s Coach Thomas as they stood in front of the over 150 football players from the two schools’ teams, although they were segregated along school allegiances.

“Coach Martin is right. After the school board’s forced ‘realignment’ of the schools it turns out that over 80 percent of Vanderbilt’s football team ended up coming to Terrebonne, meaning that there is a possibility that the number of players trying out will be significantly larger than usual,” Coach Thomas added.

“I don’t think we should have to tryout being state champs and all that,” Caesar said laughing and drawing ‘yeahs’ from the rest of the former Vanderbilt students. “Let the scrubs over there fight to be our backups.

“F*** you, rich boy,” Marcus shouted from the other side of the gym. “I’m the number one wide receiver here, you’ll be lucky to carry my f***in’ jock, bitch.”

Caesar chuckled shaking his head, “I had more touchdowns in one game than you had in your entire career. I’d advise you think about who were you talking to before you tried to throw around being the ‘best’ receiver on a s**** team.”

The verbal challenges between the two teams began to heat up as the two coaches tried to calm their respective sides down but to no avail. Finally, the school’s resource officers were called into the gym to prevent the brewing brawl.

“It’s going to be a long season coach,” Martin said to Thomas as the players were led out of the gym by the officers.

“I’m only an assistant here, you’re going to have to bring them together,” Thomas shrugged. “There are a lot of egos on this team.”

Martin nodded in agreement, “How did you control Jenkins, he seems like he would be one to draw a lot of undue attention and a lot of penalties.”

“You don’t control that,” Thomas laughed. “You get down on your knees every night and pray that one day someone will knock him down a few notches, but it never happens. That kid is on a level all of his own and he knows it.”

This season is definitey going to be interesting. It's starting to see Devin acting like a little bitch compared to his grandpa but it's also kinda interesting. Someone is going to take Ceasar out though

“Why are you always talking to that sickly looking girl at school?” Ashley asked Caesar as they lay in his bed having just finished going over “chemistry.” It had been two months since the majority of Vanderbilt’s students had been sent to Terrebonne. “You would think I would at least get the majority of your time.”

“What are you talking about,girl? I’m with you every afternoon and even go see you when you are at work every so often,” Caesar said chuckling slightly. “I can’t talk to people now?”

Ashley shook her head and sat up to grab her cell phone from the nightstand, “That’s not what I said, dumbass.You know how you are as well as I do, and we both know that you can’t keep it in your pants if your life depended on it.”

“Yes, I could,” Caesar said with feigned disgust.

“No, you couldn’t. This is like the fourth time we’ve had sex today, but it’s okay there are therapists for that type of thing,” Ashley said.

Caesar laughed, “Wouldn’t that mean that YOU couldn’t keep it in YOUR pants? No is a powerful word.”

“F*** you,” Ashley shot back.

“I think you’ve done that enough for today.”

[/i]
[i]Devin sat in his darkened room despite his numerous attempts to quell his anger, his hate for Caesar Jenkins had grown in the past two months. [/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“How the hell does he do it… No matter what happens, he is still on top of the world,” Devin thought to himself as he looked up at the ceiling. “It doesn’t help any that his entire family is perfect, no not perfect… they are god-like. They make us look like trash,grandpa’s upset that he never panned out in the NFL and Dad’s mad because he doesn’t feel like he had a family before he got married.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]I can’t believe how much I hate this kid, now. I honestly can’t tell myself that I even hate him for a valid reason… sure he makes every attempt to flirt with Laura even when I’m sitting or standing right there but he isn’t getting anywhere with that…[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Or is he...[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]I’ve never been jealous before,Caesar Jenkins isn’t the first guy who has tried to get in Laura’s pants, why is he any different. It’s not like Laura has been lying to me about where she’s been going or something crazy like that.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]On the other hand, he has the dream life. I heard he has like four cars, all brand new. He is sixteen… I’m still riding the bus. You would think that everyone would hate him, but no…most people love him.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]I’m going to hate going to school with this kid and on top of that the school board approved the school’s plan to hold football tryouts a month and a half earlier because of large amount of people likely to try out for the team…”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i][hr][/i]
[i]“There are exactly 173 players in those stands, coach,” Coach Thomas said as he flipped through the pages attached to a clipboard in his hand. “We have nine kids going out for kicker…for kicker. You could just guess how many are going out for quarterback,runningback, receiver, and defensive back.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“So, how are we going to do this?”Martin sighed leaning against a tackling dummy as he scanned the stands still seeing the divide between the former Vanderbilt players and last year’s Terrebonne squad. Now with the addition of the kid’s who were going to be moving up to Terrebonne next semester in the middle, it looked like three different teams…even the coaches who had been brought over from Vanderbilt refused to associate with the Terrebonne coaches.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“I got it,” Thomas said with a chuckle. “We can let Johnson and Wyatt take those freshmen because it’ll be easy to weed through them. I’ll take the lineman… see how these boys work in the trenches. Jordan over there can take the quarterbacks, he’s a pretty good coach. Tidus, that’s his name right? He should take the runningbacks and defensive front seven… leaving you with the receivers and the secondary.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“I guess that sounds like a good plan,” Martin said nodding his head slowly.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]It took all of the next thirty minutes for the coaches to separate the players into groups on Terrebonne’s two practice fields and nearby Houma Junior High’s field. After much debating,Coach Martin was able to snag half of the school’s main field for his group.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Okay, boys. We all know that the battle between receivers and the defensive backs is one of the most pivotal on the entire field. The secondary can completely derail a team’s offensive gameplan and the receivers do their best to keep their team from being one-dimensional,” Martin addressed the group of boys in front of him.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Too bad, there isn’t such thing as a cornerback who can cover me,” Caesar quipped drawing laughs from his former teammates.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Martin shook his head, “There isn’t room for that kind of s*** on my team, son. I’ll cut you right now without a second thought.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“You’d be hanging yourself,”Caesar chuckled.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Whatever, we’re starting with the forty-yard dash as usual. Give me tw.. make that one other person. Jenkins get on the line,” Martin commanded.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Caesar laughed and walked towards the goal line, digging his cleats into the turf beneath him a few times, “What chump wants to get burned? Don’t let me being such an athletic specimen fool you guys, I’m a burner too.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]After a few moments of deliberation amongst the rest of the group, Devin pushed his way to the front and lined up next to Caesar without saying a word.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“So King is going to be the first person to show he has heart this year?” Martin asked looking at the remaining players before walking down to the forty yard line. “Get ready, boys.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Devin got into his stance, while Caesar chuckled to himself before doing the same. Even hunched over, you could tell the height difference between the two boys. Standing at a meager 5’10”,Devin was dwarfed by Caesar at 6’4”, however in most situations the speed advantage goes to the shorter man…[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“THREE, TWO, ONE! GO!” Martin shouted.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]But not this one…[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Caesar blew off the line and from the start he had Devin by at least two yards thanks to his long strides, bu tDevin was able to begin to catch up around the 15 yard line. Caesar looked to the right of him, and saw that Devin was closer than he thought… he immediately threw all of his effort into the last twenty-five yards.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“4.43… 4.51,” the coach said shocked at the speed of the two boys, even the rest of the group were shocked that two sophomores were that fast. “I hope whoever steps up next can come close to that because if not we already found our number one receiver and our number one cornerback.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“I didn’t even try that hard,”Caesar said, his hands on his hips as he walked back to the group. “King is a slow piece of s***.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Devin shook his head without saying a word as he followed Caesar to the back of the line.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]After going through the many players remaining in the group, Coach Martin decided to move on to some simple one-on-one drills between the players.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“You know how it works, defensive back jams the receiver… I hope you boys remember how to use your hands,” Martin said. “I was going to do this randomly but after that little show on the forty between King and Jenkins I want to see them first.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Caesar walked forward with a smirk as Devin once again pushed his way from the back of the group. [/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]The boys turned towards each other once they had gotten far enough away from the rest of the players that they had room to run the drill. [/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“You are about to get embarrassed, bitch,” Caesar said quietly as he got into his stance, Devin doing the same. [/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Hut,” Martin said simulating the snap of the ball.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Caesar tried to simply push Devin away from him, but Devin was quick enough to get his hands under Caesar’s arms allowing him to control the bigger player’s movements. Try as he might, Caesar simply could not get past him. Finally, Martin blew his whistle to end the drill.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Good stuff, King,” Martin said.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Run it again,” Caesar said angrily.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“What?”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“I said run it again, unless your boy is a p****,” Caesar repeated getting back into his stance.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Devin did the same, “I’m good,coach. Give him what he wants.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Martin sighed to himself, “Hut.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Devin tried to do the same thing,but this time Caesar was ready and he skillfully threw his left arm behind Devin’s right shoulder and swam around him.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Too easy,” Caesar mocked.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Again,” Devin demanded.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]The two boys once again got back into their stances and now the rest of the group were starting to cheer for their respective “teammate”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Hut.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Caesar was the first one to make a move this time, running straight into Devin and pushing him back a few yards before he was able to reverse his momentum, pretty much forcing a stalemate between the two.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“F***ing again!” Caesar yelled shoving Devin away from him.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]The group was only getting louder which drew the attention of the quarterbacks who were on the other side of the field. Giving in two the dueling players, Martin allowed them to run the drill for a fourth time.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Hut.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Caesar took a step forward and once again showcased his skill, using a head fake to get Devin off balance and easily blowing past him to take the lead in their little “series.” Devin didn’t even had to say a word to the coach who only nodded his head as they walked back to their starting positions.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Devin would win this round, as Caesar once again tried to bully him backwards but Devin simply used a swim move and Caesar’s own momentum to send him sprawling to the ground drawing laughs from the Terrebonne “vets.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Caesar got up from the ground fuming, “RUN IT AGAIN. THIS KID IS PISSING ME THE F*** OFF!” [/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Last time, hut.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Thinking Caesar was going to come with a skill move again, Devin immediately began backing up despite the “rules”of the drill. Sure enough, Caesar made a move with his feet but instead of trying to get away from Devin he ran into him and in the process grabbed his facemask and swung him to the ground.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“YOU F***ING P****! TRYING TO SHOW ME UP? TRYING TO F***ING SHOW ME UP? BETTER LEARN YOUR F***ING PLACE,BITCH!” Caesar shouted as Devin rolled to his feet.[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]“Hey! Hey!” Martin yelled grabbing Caesar’s jersey. “That’s not going to happen on my field ever again,your day is done, hit the showers. You are lucky Coach Thomas loves you or I’d cut your ass right now.”[/i]
[i] [/i]
[i]Caesar only pulled his jersey from Martin’s grasp and began to make his way towards the locker rooms, ripping off the Terrebonne helmet and kicking it into the stands on the way.[/i]